“It was a lot of effort” – Former NFF President Amaju Pinnick reveals how he swayed Lookman to play for Nigeria

Former President of the Nigerian Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, has revealed he put in a lot of work to convince Ademola Lookman to play for the Super Eagles, Soccernet.ng reports.

Pinnick was President of the NFF between 2014 and 2022, and had huge success convincing players with Nigerian roots who were born in diaspora to represent their native side. This list includes players like Alex Iwobi, Leon Balogun, Ola Aina, William Troost-Ekong, Maduka Okoye, and Cyriel Dessers.

Speaking at the 2024 CAF Awards a few days back, the 54-year-old revelled in his pride as one of the players he worked hard to convince won the CAF POTY award.

“I recall, just before he played his first game, there were correspondents that I needed. I had to rush to the Ikoyi club to meet his dad in ensuring that I got it personally. You can ask the dad, so, it was a lot of effort. A lot of people called me and wanted me to talk about the role that I played, but I wanted it to be organic. Thank God everything went well and like I said, we’re all very proud of him and this should be a turning point towards greater things for him,” Pinnick said in an interview with Ojb Sports.

“I recall just before he (Lookman) played his first game for Nigeria. There were documents / correspondence he needed. I had to rush to Ikoyi club to meet his dad in ensuring I get it personally.”

Former Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick is delighted that his… pic.twitter.com/IWobSXv2rr

— Ojora Babatunde (@ojbsports) December 17, 2024

Ademola Lookman became the sixth Nigerian player to take home the CAF Player of the Year award on Monday night in Morocco.